Death (or something like it)
by rustyliver
Summary: What do you do if you're about to lose someone you love? Dead Like Me AU


So she died.

She didn't end up in a heaven or a hell. And she didn't disappear into nothingness.

Instead, she was stuck on Earth, possibly for another eighty years (that's how long Artie has been around but it doesn't look like he's going to leave any time soon so who knows?), taking souls without pay.

She has been doing it for two months now and it still sucks whenever Artie sticks a post-it next to her breakfast. The post-it with the name of the person who is going to die that day, their location and estimated time of death. She doesn't care if it's in the manual for grim reapers but a person should not have to look at that while drinking their morning coffee. That's just cruel.

"That's not far from where I'm going, want a ride?" Myka offers.

"Sure," Claudia wipes her mouth. She has just lost her appetite. "Since _Artie_ won't let me drive."

"You're not going to eat your bacon?" Artie asks, ignoring what she said.

She pushes her plate to Artie. "You have to watch your cholesterol level, old man."

"The benefits of being undead," he says, biting into her bacon, "you won't drop dead from a heart attack."

…

"Harold Wells!" she calls. "Herbert Wells! Holly Wells! Holy Wells?"

She is late to work for this and her guy doesn't even have the decency to show up. Which should make her happy because no killing today. Yay! But she doesn't want another slimming belt incident happening.

When she goes to der Waffle Haus and tells Artie about it, he looks at her suspiciously and asks, "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" she says, holding up her hands defensively. "Lesson learned."

"Give me your post-it."

"I threw it away," she tells him.

"Never mind," he grumbles, already flipping pages of his organizer. When he finds what he is looking for, he turns to Myka instead of her, "What did you do?"

"Thank you," Claudia says, happy that she isn't accused of doing stupid things anymore, "Wait, what?" How did it go from her, reaper newb to Myka, reaper of the year?

Myka shakes her head. "I don't know what you're talking abo—" Artie is looking at her like he wants to drill a hole in her forehead.

"What is going on?" Claudia asks.

"I did what I had to do," Myka says, standing up.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Pete appears, smiling goofily. His eyes go straight to Myka's uneaten Banana Bonanza, seemingly unaware of the tension between Myka and Artie. "You gonna eat that?"

"Help yourself," Myka huffs and leaves.

"This is going to bite us in the ass!" Artie shouts after her.

And what happens next is the first time Claudia has ever seen Myka flipping someone off. Which she should do more. They're all dead. Who cares about being polite?

…

She asks Pete about it later.

"Whoa," Pete says. "You got H.G. Wells? She was Myka's wife."

"Really? I thought the people upstairs have strict rules about these kinds of things."

"There's 6 billion people in this world. Maybe it's a clerical error or something."

…

It wasn't an error. The next morning, Myka receives a post-it with H.G. Wells written on it.

"You've got to be kidding me," she crumples the post-it in her hand.

But Artie doesn't say 'I told you so'. Instead, he looks at Myka sadly, "I know. But this time," the sympathy fades back into his stern look, "you can't save her."

Claudia chases after her when she storms off.

Maybe everyone else has forgotten about their family but Claudia hasn't. She still visits Joshua every day. He has been burying himself in his research after she died so he always forgets to eat and shower. So she orders him pizzas and sends him notes like, 'your smell is burning the neighborhood'. It makes him chuckle as he tries to look for this kid who sounds so much like his sister. He's a science man. So he doesn't believe in an afterlife.

It's only when Claudia finally catches up to Myka that she realizes that she doesn't know what to say. She knows what happened but she doesn't think it's appropriate to tell Myka, "Maybe it's for the best. Your wife will get to see your daughter."

So she squeezes into Myka's meter maid cart and sits quietly as Myka drives around the block.

"Who told you?" Myka finally asks.

"I was sworn to secrecy," she answers.

"So it's Pete."

"Please don't kill him. Again."

Myka doesn't look angry or even annoyed that Claudia knows. She just makes another right turn to circle the block for the ninth time.

"I know it's selfish," Myka says when they're in front of der Waffle Haus again. She stops the cart. "But knowing I can see her every morning even if I can't talk to her keeps me going. I don't know how I'm going to live," she laughs wryly, "without her."

…

The place of H.G.'s death (Claudia feels weird calling her by her first name since she's going to die and calling her Wells feels a little too impersonal) is a flower shop called Muerte which is fitting since they specialize in flower arrangements for the dead. Their motto is 'We help sweep off your loved one's feet even if they're six feet under'. Yeah, they're the ones who should go under.

It is also the place where H.G. buys flowers for Myka's grave every Wednesday. Claudia wonders what Myka or H.G. could have possibly done to deserve this.

When Claudia offers to keep Myka company, she insists she will be fine doing it alone. But Claudia shows up anyway. It also might have something to do with how Artie told her to keep an eye on Myka. That's why she is hiding.

"Don't let her do anything stupid," Artie told her.

Myka is pretending to look at some gardenias next to H.G.

H.G. glances at Myka's choice of flowers and says, "That is a peculiar flower to buy in a place like this."

"How so?" Myka asks.

"Gardenias mean joy."

Myka quirks an eyebrow.

"What?" H.G. asks.

"You don't look like someone who knows much about flower meanings."

H.G. chuckles. "My wife used to tease me about it. She would send me flowers with these grand romantic meanings during our wedding anniversary just to make me feel inferior."

"So what did you do?"

"I would find out what they mean and whisper each word to her ear when we make love."

Myka blushes.

"I'm sorry," H.G. says. "My wife used to tell me I lack a verbal filter."

"No, it's fine. I just," Myka clears her throat. "I'm a sucker for love stories."

"I hardly call that a story," H.G. says and tilts her head. "Hey…" she inches toward Myka.

And Claudia notices how Myka's eyes have become teary.

Myka wipes her eyes. "I guess just because you're standing next to gardenias doesn't make you feel joy," she jokes.

But H.G. doesn't laugh. She is looking into Myka's eyes, her forehead creasing. She moves closer to Myka. Myka tries to back away but she almost steps on a bunch of cactuses. H.G. raises her hand and then traces her finger along Myka's temple to her cheek and stops at her chin. She pushes Myka's chin gently so that her head slightly tilts downwards. "It's you," she mutters.

Claudia is pretty sure this is the something stupid Artie told her about. But she is not moving. She doesn't want to stop this even if it ends up being a train wreck.

Then H.G. kisses Myka.

Because it's a really sweet train wreck.

Myka hooks her hands around H.G.'s neck and kisses back, a tear falling on her cheek.

And Claudia sees the glow of H.G.'s soul leaving her body as Myka drags her hand down to H.G.'s shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Myka whispers when she pulls away.

…

"I knew it was you!" H.G. cries out, smiling proudly next to her body.

"But honey, you're dead," Myka tells her.

She glances at her body which has been marked with the tire threads of a bicycle. "Minor detail—" she abruptly turns her head to her left, distracted by a glowing blue light. "Is that for me?"

Myka smiles. "Yes."

H.G. starts walking towards it.

"Do you see her?" Myka asks. "Christina."

"I do," H.G. nods, still walking towards the light.

"Tell her I say hi and I love her very much."

H.G. stops and turns. "Tell her yourself."

"I can't," Myka says.

"When has that ever stopped you?"

Okay, yes, this is the time to intervene. Claudia comes out from behind the plant that has been her hiding place for the last half hour. "Myka!" she calls.

Myka doesn't look her way. Her eyes are still set on H.G.

Claudia quickly runs towards her. "You can't do this."

But H.G. is nodding at her and she is nodding too and her smile isn't that sad smile anymore. It is wide and happy like someone who is finally coming home after years of being away.

Claudia pulls her hand. "You don't know what's going to happen to you," she reminds Myka.

"I don't care," Myka says. "The way I see it, if I stay, I won't see my family for a very long time but if I go, there's a chance I could be with them forever. What do you think is a better choice?"

Claudia still doesn't let go.

Myka finally takes her eyes off H.G. and looks at her. "What if it's Joshua?"

She feels her grasp on Myka loosening. She hasn't even let go yet when Myka runs off to H.G.

Myka takes H.G.'s hand. "Tell Artie it's not your fault!" she yells to Claudia. Then they both run towards the blue light and disappear.

"Yeah, like he'd believe me," Claudia mutters to herself.

…

So life (or death) goes on.

She asks Artie what happened to Myka. Artie only shrugs and hands her a post-it. Surprisingly, Artie doesn't lecture her about it. He just says, "Don't ever do that."

Then some guy approaches their booth. "Don't do what?"

"You're late," Artie says to him. "Where's Pete?"

"I'm not," the guy says without even looking at his watch. "And Pete says something came up and he's going to be a little late."

Artie sighs. "Claudia, this is Steve," he gestures to Steve, "who's lie detecting skill didn't die with him. And since Pete isn't here, I want you to show him the ropes."

"Cool," Claudia says, smiling. She takes Steve's hand that is intended for Artie and shakes it. "I'm not the new guy anymore."


End file.
